golden gilded cage
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: All this power that was afforded to him by his blood was nothing but a golden gilded cage that could never be escaped.


"REG!"

Sirius bounded into his room, with only his thunderous footsteps serving as the extra warning for his arrival, looking more like an overexcited puppy than the brother that was supposed to be older and more mature than he was.

Their parents never approved of Sirius' unrestrained behaviour. They preferred his more calm and controlled behaviour. They always told Regulus that they wished that he was their heir instead of Sirius, that he would bring the family greater pride than Sirius would. Regulus doubted it, he was a follower not a leader, but nodded his head in agreement to their words anyway. They weren't supposed to argue.

"Sirius! Do not make such a racket as you move around!" their mother shrieked from somewhere downstairs. The true power of their mother's shriek was muffled by the number of walls between them and her and the fact that she had foregone the spell she usually used to ensure they heard her.

"Of course, Mother," Sirius yelled back, with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

"And no shouting in the house either. You are not a boorish muggle!"

"Says the one who shrieks like a banshee. Reg, are you sure we don't have any banshees in the family? You know the family tree much better than I do."

Regulus shook his head with a small smile, "Only because you can't be bothered to pay too much attention to it. You've had one extra year studying them."

Sirius shot Regulus a deeply betrayed look, "Why would I want to know about generations of _dead_ people? And you're just a freak of nature, Reg. I really don't know how you manage to remember all all of that."

"Because our family requires it," Regulus said, giving the answer that all Sirius's pureblood training had never managed to instil within him. "As well as all the other training you seem to be able to easily ignore."

Sirius looked affronted. "I know all the _important_ things. If I need help with any of the trivial things, you'd be there, right?"

Regulus nodded sagely, "Of course. Now what are these important things that you managed to learn from our pureblood training? I would _love_ to know what in particular I need to pay attention to."

"The names of the living," Sirius nodded.

Regulus waited for a moment, just in case Sirius decided to add anything else to the extremely short list, "Of course, we would never want to forget the names of anyone we meet. Nor would we want to insult them by mistake, or cause a feud between our family and theirs."

Sirius groaned. "How did they manage to worm their way into your brain so much that you now think all of this is necessary? You make me sad, Regulus."

"Not everyone can be like you, Sirius," Regulus said wearily.

"Of course, no one can be as awesome as I am."

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK! GET DOWN HERE AT ONCE!" their mother shrieked. Both of them covered their ears with their hands, hoping that they found a way to undo that spell soon.

"Wish me good luck!" Sirius yelled, disappearing out the door in a solemn march.

"NO SHOUTING IN THE HOUSE!"

"Come back alive!" Regulus yelled in response, not really wanting to listen to the shrieking that would definitely come from his mother in a couple of minutes.

His previous thoughts returned to the fore of his mind with a vengeance, and his mood tipped into sour territory. He didn't want to lose Sirius, but with how everything was going, and Sirius's absolute refusal to change his mind, their mother was already planning a way to kick Sirius out of the house.

Neither of them had even reached Hogwarts yet, and their mother already believed there was no way for Sirius to change. Regulus thought that if Sirius knew what was at stake now, he would probably change, but Mother refused to allow him to warn Sirius.

He was stuck between his duty to his family and his need to help Sirius, but Regulus knew Mother would find out immediately if he told Sirius because Sirius would never change on his own. He knew that his duty to his family would win, but he hated that he wasn't strong enough to risk warning Sirius.

The idea of losing his older brother sent a shot of pain and sorrow through his body that nearly felt like a physical blow, weakening him. The fact that he would then have to treat Sirius like someone below him only made him feel worse. The idea of joining other purebloods in mocking and bullying Sirius made his blood run cold. Sirius would never know that everything that would happen wasn't his fault in the slightest.

All this power that was afforded to him by his blood was nothing but a golden gilded cage that could never be escaped.

He was powerless.

**Written for Major and Minor Arcana Assignment 7: ****The Hierophant** **\- Guidance and tradition/** **Restriction, challenging the status quo****_._**

**Written for Triwizard Tournament – Picking on your partner: Regulus Black; sadness; freak; one of the characters being bullied or teased by the other character; Sirius Black**


End file.
